Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Confusing the Muzzled and the Muzzlers

As documented throughout this blog, the radical anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace often smears those who critique and fact check their outrageous claims as "muzzlers" who hope to censor criticism of Israel.

They might take note of what is what actual muzzling looks like. After an Israeli-Arab woman went to South Africa to tell the truth about her experience in Israel,

“There were a number of articles in Israel, the international press and the Arab press even outside of Israel. They described me as a Zionist who sold out her people.” Others accused her of taking bribes to support the country. The media exposure led to real trouble. In Deir Hana, where she grew up, activists from Hadash and Balad, Arab Israeli political parties represented in parliament, “published flyers and articles saying that I sold out my people, that I was brainwashed.” Like the rest of us, Boshra didn’t get paid a cent for her troubles. “They wanted to banish me and my family –- all kinds of bad things.” The rancor eventually turned to threats. “I got many hostile phone calls and threatening Facebook messages. A Facebook group attacking me was started. At one point, even my husband was threatened and told that if I didn’t ‘calm down’ I’d pay a heavy price.”

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Looks like this website might be on hiatus, but perhaps we can lure you back to life with this explosive new report issued by NGO Monitor http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article.php?id=3915

July 08, 2013 -- NGO Monitor released today a detailed report of the goals, tactics, and opaque financing of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), a U.S.-based advocacy organization dedicated to driving “a wedge” within the Jewish community to create the impression that the Jewish community is polarized over Israel.

“Since American Jews are important supporters of Israel, JVP’s attempt to divide the Jewish community is aimed at undermining U.S. support for Israel,” Yitzhak Santis, NGO Monitor’s Chief Programs Officer and the report’s author, warned. “JVP also works to weaken this support in U.S. mainline churches and on American campuses. Our researchers discovered that this summer, Jewish Voice for Peace is joining the American Friends Service Committee to train student activists at a BDS boot camp.”

JVP’s strategy, as stated by executive director Rebecca Vilkomerson and others, is in-line with the 2001 Durban NGO Forum strategy of political war against Israel.

“JVP’s tactics,” said Santis, “include boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS), a sustained campaign of demonization against Israel, and support for a Palestinian claim to a ‘right of return.’”

The NGO Monitor report shows that JVP views itself as the “Jewish wing” of the Palestinian solidarity movement. As such, JVP consistently partners with anti-Israel groups in the U.S. and abroad, including Electronic Intifada, American Muslims for Palestine, Adalah-NY, Code Pink, Sabeel, International Solidarity Movement, and the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (of which JVP is an official member). JVP members also sailed in the 2011 Gaza flotilla.

“JVP’s funding sources are far from transparent, and its website carries no information on its donors,” Santis emphasized, “Yet, we discovered that a number of foundations that contribute to JVP also contribute to other groups active in the BDS delegitimization campaign. Most of JVP’s funding sources remain hidden, leaving the question, who is funding this group?”

The report shows that JVP’s last annual report was in 2005 and its budget in 2011 was $876,529. Figures for 2012 and 2013 are not yet available.